Correlates of psychiatric co-morbidity in a sample of Egyptian patients with bipolar disorder.

Background And Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex, chronic mood disorder involving repeated episodes of depression and mania/hypomania. Two thirds of patients with bipolar disorder have a comorbid psychiatric condition. This study aims to assess the prevalence of Axis I diagnosis with its socio-demographic and clinical correlates among a sample of Egyptian patients with bipolar disorder.

[Serotypes, genotypes and drug resistance of group A streptococcal strains isolated in 1991, 2001 and 2002 in Tokushima Prefecture--comparison after decade].

Sixty two strains of Group A streptococcus were isolated between August 2001 and June 2002. They were examined for T serotypes, pyrogenic exotoxin genes and resistance against antibiotics. The results were compared with those for 61 isolates of the same species collected between April and December 1991.

Further evidence regarding the effect of dietary protein on oral tolerance against beta-lactoglobulin through Th1-mediated immune response in mice.

Oral tolerance is a potential strategy for preventing or minimizing aberrant immune responses. Although, oral tolerance has been extensively studied, to date the effects of dietary protein on the induction of oral tolerance are poorly understood. We have previously shown that restricted dietary protein induces oral tolerance to ovalbumin.

Genetic studies on reference strains of mutans streptococci.

Twenty four reference strains (serotype a-h) belonging to the mutans group of streptococci were compared for DNA fragment patterns of rDNA after treatment with Hind III. It was shown that Streptococcus cricetus (serotype a), S. rattus (serotype b), and S.

Low-protein diet induces oral tolerance to ovalbumin in mice.

The suitable development of oral tolerance against ingested dietary foods is of critical importance to escaping food allergy. Using mice as an animal model for oral tolerance against ovalbumin (OVA) as a dietary antigen, we investigated the effects of dietary protein on their immunological tolerance. Female BALB/c mice fed either a 20% or 5% protein diet were orally administered 5 mg of OVA for four consecutive days, then immunized intraperitoneally with 100 microg of OVA.